News for the natural gas vehicle industry worldwide
USA outpaces Europe with NG Powered HD truck volume of sales
New VW NGV models likely to stimulate other manufacturers in Europe
Peter Boisen, founding Chairman and now honorary Chairman with a permanent seat on the board of NGVA Europe, comments on the pace of change in the USA and the recent natural gas vehicle developments in Europe, particularly the impetus generated by Volkswagen. Read more »
The uncertainty surrounding oil markets has been demonstrated by an intervention last week from the International Energy Agency (IEA) calling for the release of 60 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves of its member nations. The intervention is only the third in the 35 year history of the IEA and is intended to ameliorate oil supply after disruption caused by events in Libya. While some analysts have questioned the need for the stock release at this time, it reminds us that oil supplies, the lifeblood of most economies, are a fragile balancing act. The release also follows a report issued by the IEA suggesting that we are entering a ‘golden age’ of natural gas. From an overall fuel supply perspective it highlights what the IEA refers to as “oil’s twilight” and the need for new mainstream alternatives. Read more »
Bangladesh trainees visit an authorised gas cylinder test station in Sydney, Australia.
For many fleet operators, the introduction of natural gas vehicles brings with it new safety considerations. Dr Hien Ly, an independent consultant in the natural gas vehicle arena, outlines some of these considerations, and the value of using qualified experts to fill important knowledge gaps.
“The sooner the safety program starts the more assured fleet safety will be.”
For some time now, the international natural gas vehicle industry has had in place active programs aimed at maintaining and improving CNG vehicle safety. Safety implementation is a necessary adjunct to vehicle acquisition and asset management policies for every fleet manager. It includes projects to produce technical standards and codes of practice, formal training courses for technical personnel, safety workshops at conferences and CNG cylinder safety workshops. Read more »
Biogas, particularly as a vehicle fuel has had a challenging time getting on the European alternative fuel policy agenda but it appears that renewable methane for vehicles is finally “on the list.” That’s according to the European Commission (EC) project directors who spoke at the final workshop of the EC-funded project Biogasmax in Brussels on 14th September 2010. Read more »
CNG Bi-fuel Volvo V70 – Welcome back!
The natural gas industry as a whole has been an arena of exciting developments in 2009, delivering in a raft of areas despite the gloomy economic uncertainty that heralded the year’s start.
How that gloom has impacted upon the NGV industry isn’t clear at this point and won’t be until year-end vehicle numbers are collected. Mixed reports have come to us from industry members with some saying they have thrived, struggling to keep up with demand, while others have struggled just to remain viable. Read more »
Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat and Chrysler
“Natural gas is the only real, immediate alternative to petrol.”
Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat Group and Chrysler Group, has a vision for a car industry faced with profound economic and environmental issues around the world. Manufacturers and politicians are being compelled to rethink the automotive business model — Marchionne suggests that change must be virtuous, unified and realistic for it to succeed. His musings are reported in the Economist (The World in 2010 print edition), where he encourages adoption of a different approach, one that moves from viewing the automobile as a stand-alone object to one that sees it as a component in a much larger system. Read more »
Are natural gas vehicles increasing their role as a simpler, more cost competitive, and more elegant solution?
The increasing complexity of diesel engines is creating opportunities for natural gas vehicles
As diesel powered vehicles face increasingly stringent emissions standards of Euro 5/6 in Europe, and EPA 2010 standards in N. America, more complex engine technology and emissions control systems have been adopted. Particulate emissions have been controlled, in the past, with diesel particulate filters (DPF). Now NOx emissions control for the tighter standards frequently requires a combination of advanced engine control, a DPF, and an emissions control system employing selective catalytic reduction (SCR) with a urea solution injected into the exhaust to control NOxemissions. The cost and complexity of the SCR system has raised the question as to whether, in many cases, natural gas vehicles have become a simpler, more cost competitive, and more elegant solution for meeting the stringent emissions standards imposed on light and heavy duty diesel vehicles. Read more »
IRAN CNG Conference 2009
Despite political uncertainties in Iran, one good news story to come out of the Islamic Republic is the continued success of the country’s extensive natural gas vehicle (NGV) program. Attending last week’s 2nd Conference and Exhibition on CNG and Related Industries provided a valuable opportunity to gain insight into the world’s fastest growing NGV market. As could be expected, the massive growth does present some problems for the industry but, while the scale of the issues might be larger, the problems themselves are not unique to Iran and are not insurmountable. In fact, the national NGV industry is setting new benchmarks that put others on notice. A quick look at some numbers might help set the scene… Read more »
The Canadian Natural Gas Vehicle Alliance (CNGVA) has recently published a Commodity Report on the benefits of taking up natural gas as a niche solution for energy and emissions concerns in Canada. The report, which refers to information from the Canadian Energy Research Institute, looks at current opportunities and argues for greater market adoption of heavy natural gas vehicles and an overcoming of legislative restraints – arguments that will be applicable in other countries facing similar issues.
Welcome to the new look NGV Global. The content remains the same – quality news covering the natural gas vehicle industry worldwide – but as well as the cosmetic improvements to make your news easier to read, we’ve also improved the functionality. Faster page loading, leading edge Google custom search facilities, increased categories, ‘tagging’ to make it easier to find related stories and more. We’ve even introduced commenting facilities so you can contribute feedback to stories and editorials right here on the site. Read more »
Comment and Analysis by Jeffrey Seisler, CEO, Clean Fuels Consulting, in collaboration with Kevin Leydon Associates (Brussels). First published in Fleets and Fuels Magazine.
The wide-ranging Climate and Energy package adopted by the European Parliament on 17 December 2008, is an ambitious attempt to lay out a comprehensive, long-term plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 20%, to have 20% of the EU’s total consumption made up of renewable energy and to achieve 20% saving through energy efficiency by 2020. The ‘package,’ a collection of six Directives, affects all energy sectors.
One of the most important activities undertaken by IANGV in recent years has been the promotion of the harmonization of international standards for the natural gas vehicle (NGV) industry.
Global bodies such as United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) are working actively towards harmonization of standards. This is because the cost of non-harmonized standards is a considerable burden on various industries including the NGV industry. For NGVs, this is particularly a problem at the moment due to the differences between UNECE Regulation 110* and ISO Standards 15500 (Fuel System Components) and 15501 Road Vehicles – Compressed Natural Gas Fueling Systems, which deal with the equipment and installation of CNG in vehicles.*
Report and Analysis by Jeffrey Seisler, CEO, Clean Fuels Consulting, in collaboration with Kevin Leydon Associates. Exclusively for NGV Global
The debate on proposals for new energy and environment policies are coming to a head as the European Union prepares to turn its focus in the New Year to Parliamentary elections by mid-2009. European Commission initiatives proposed as early as March 2007 are being adopted by Parliament and will tend to lay out the coming years’ roadmap for renewable fuel sources (including liquid and gaseous biofuels), for the European car industry related to CO2 reductions, and hydrogen vehicle and fuelling station development. The flurry of intense activity is scheduled to go through December 2008. Those directives that are finalized then enter the implementation phase. Those that are not finalized or successfully negotiated to their conclusion either at the end of the year or beginning of 2009 could languish until a new Parliament is chosen. The ‘battle lines’ on issues is complex:
The following comment item was first published in European Voice Magazine in May of this year.
Liquid biofuels – ethanol and ‘biodiesel’ – have captured the worldwide and European fascination as renewable energy for the transport sector but the tide seems to be turning now that people are realizing the inherent challenges of leaping into a liquid biofuels policy in the absence of adequate consideration of the down-stream results.Â
Faced with questions about the impacts on food chain products and prices, changes in land use and deforestation at the hands of liquid biofuels producers, the European Parliament, in the Fuel Quality Directive and the Renewable Resource Directive, is now struggling with a hard reality of the March 2007 EU policy to replace 10% of transport sector petroleum with renewable biofuels by 2020: Can there be a legislative definition of ‘sustainable’ biofuels: a distinction between ‘good’ renewable biofuels and those that have negative environmental effects and higher social costs than ordinary petrol and diesel? If not, the next question is, can the 10% renewable challenge be fulfilled without getting into the cloudy issue of sustainability? The answer to the first question is, “Probably not.â€Â The answer to the second question is, “Definitely, yes,†but a change of focus is required.
Alicia Milner is the President of the Canadian Natural Gas Vehicle Alliance and a Vice President of IANGV. Here she outlines the factors responsible for the success of natural gas forklifts, using the Ontario market as an example.
Natural gas is a versatile low carbon fuel. The rapid growth in use of natural gas for transportation is a global success story that is increasingly attracting the attention of governments, the automotive industry, and the media. Data indicates that 85% of the 8.7 million natural gas vehicles in use today are light duty passenger vehicles, and that natural gas is increasingly being used for niche vehicles. Forklift trucks are an excellent example of niche vehicle success for natural gas.
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